Didn't I just blog about there being winter? It was about 24 hours that the white winter wonderfulness lasted - and then we transitioned right back into rather spring-like weather. It is getting closer to spring for now, really - there's the early flowers getting ready, the rose is showing first leaves, the peach tree as well. The first tomato seedlings have broken soil, too.

[caption id="attachment_5080" align="alignnone" width="640"] The first irises are blooming - I really love these, and they ring in spring for me more than snowdrops and narcissus.


Which means it's high time to finish pruning the willows (which is almost done, there's just a few stragglers left to take care of).

The willows are looking really gnarly in some parts, and some of them have grown to astonishing dimensions width-wise, while their direct neighbours are still rather slender rods, or have actually dried out and died. Some places have four strong, thick ones right beside each other, and some have one thick one and three thinner ones, and I really can't find a rhythm or reason behind this.

[caption id="attachment_5079" align="alignnone" width="640"] The willow fence - you can see that there's different thicknesses. There's no real reason for them to be so different, though...


The low arch that you can see at half height of the photo is the most problematic bit, and we're often having to replace the top of the arch with new shoots bent in, as that part tends to die off during the year - even if it had been growing strong for several years before. That's probably due to growing mechanics, so not much that can be done about it. (Should you be planning to plant a living willow fence, try to go for pointy arches, so the end point of every single element is the highest point of it, and not on a flat slope.)

While this is going on, I'm also trying to get some semblance of order into the garden before, as every year, everything deteriorates with the "I am not finding time to do stuff" syndrome that hits me in summer. For now, I'm really enjoying the early spring garden work. It's a welcome excuse to make the lunch break a little longer, or to have a bit of time in the afternoon to get off the computer and soak up some sunshine outside, and have a breath of fresh air...

There was actually snow yesterday and today. Winter! At last! It did look beautiful outside:



The cat, however, was thoroughly unimpressed:



Or, to be more precise: Not amused. While she did go outside for a stroll, she refused to lower her furry bottom onto the cold snow and instead preferred to come inside and lower it into the litter box.

Oh, cat. You do know that you have fur on your ass for a reason, right?

Things going on here?

Sorting of pictures from Monday. I'm deleting the really blurry one, and sorting through the others. Not everything was caught properly, in spite of my efforts (and very enthusiastic hitting of the camera buttons); I've also discovered that focus stacking software might be my friend, and promptly got sidetracked into downloading and trying a number of programmes. (With limited success as of now... but ah, well, one shall see.)

There has also been some progress during the last days regarding the Sprang Thing - I've found that I am not able to do both layers at once in the end operations, so I've split up the two layers and am working them separately. The first one is actually almost done, though there are some errors (which I am opting to ignore).



The back is still waiting for its turn, and I'll probably use a different method for finishing that, at least for a good bit in. (The bit of wood is clamped there to help keep the two layers separate until I've finished the front.)



And last but not least, I've managed to get some seeds into soil. Most of them are already a little older, so I do hope they will trn out to be still viable, and result in lovely little plants. One of the rows holds the seeds for black cocktail tomatoes - we bought the seeds as a souvenir during our last summer vacation, and I'm very, very curious how they will taste. I'm hoping for somewhere between "nice" and "really, really good"!



And then I will definitely remember to take take more seeds to carry into the future!

 
I actually managed to forget posting this yesterday - so you're getting it today instead, and I'm sorry for the unexpected blog silence.

Spring is coming slowly nearer here, and I'm working on getting the willow fence into shape (as in pruned completely) before it's actually growing time again. There was some progress, as you can see here:

 


I'm not as far along as I would like to be, but there is some progress, and the weather is forecast to be pruning-friendly during the next few days as well.

The fence was put in in Spring 2012, so it's going to be 8 years now. It has changed a lot from the very orderly, very slender beginnings:



I find especially fascinating how the "heads" develop where the rods are pruned off every year:



They have their own kind of weird beauty, I think.

It's finally been cold for a few days - this winter was not very cold overall, there was almost no snow, only a light dusting for a few hours or, at most, two or so days. I'm quite happy that the temperature has finally fallen into the slight negative, even if it's only for a few days, and I hope it's enough for all those critters and plants that need a good stint of frost to do well.

That means I have a few days where I'm not going to prune the willow fence, as it should be above zero for that - it will look like this a while longer:



Every year, I'm floored by the sheer amount of biomass these willows produce over one growing season. It's a lot of wood!

Meanwhile, the snowdrops, unfazed by the cold, are slowly getting ready:



So. A bit more winter, or at least wintery temperatures, and then the new year will truly come in...

It's been a while since you got a proper garden pictures post, so here you are:



The lavendar is coming into full bloom - and it's being appreciated by the bees. As is the thyme that has taken over our lawn:



This is a somehow weird picture, but I like how the background came out.



We also have a space (you could call it a flowerbed, if you are feeling generous) where wild flowers such as the one above are growing in abundance. I'm extra happy about this one, which I'm seeing here the first time this year:



And finally, woad has managed to gain a foothold here - it's doing its "second year thing" now, flowering and making seeds:



Hooray!